Mohammad Shami suffering a new injury while on the road to recovery has led to a huge crisis in the Indian cricket team. India has suffered a huge blow to their chances of defending the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 in Australia later this year as Shami has more or less been ruled out of the tour.
Mohammad Shami has been out of action since ICC World Cup 2023 where he was the most wicket-taker in the tournament. He had 24 wickets in 8 matches with a best of 7/57 in the semi-final against New Zealand in Mumbai.
He had suffered an ankle injury during the tournament and he had to undergo surgery for the same in London. Since then, he recovered at home in UP and then went to the NCA to recover with the assistance of BCCI paneled doctors.
However, as he was being primed for return in Ranji Trophy 2024-25, Shami recently experienced a fresh knee injury, which prevented him from playing in Bengal’s first Ranji Trophy game. He was supposed to play one or two Ranji Trophy games before debuting in one of the Tests against New Zealand.
The dates were in his favor: the Ranji season began on October 11, and the final New Zealand Test, in Mumbai, begins on November 1.
Even if Mohammad Shami missed the first two Tests in Bengaluru (from Wednesday) and Pune (October 24-28), he still had plenty of time to play one game for his state, prove his fitness, and get back into Test mode before the five-Test tour of Australia, which begins next month.
Mohammad Shami out of BGT 2024-25, tour of Australia
However, the knee injury dashed his dreams of returning to India and surprised the BCCI’s medical experts at the National Cricket Academy. The Sports Science Team was doing an excellent job with his rehabilitation, increasing his chances of returning to international cricket.
However, his hopes of traveling to Australia were severely hampered when he was recently diagnosed with a new knee problem. Shami is reported to have swollen his knee, forcing him to begin his therapy immediately.
It means that all of his recovery efforts over the last few months were futile, and he will have to start over. This could take some time and keep him out of the Test series against Australia.
Mohammad Shami has an excellent record in Australia, taking 37 wickets in eight Tests. In such circumstances, his experience could be beneficial to India. However, his sluggish recovery is sure to hit India hard in the year’s most anticipated series.
Shami has been an excellent servant of Indian cricket for nearly a dozen years – he made his ODI debut in January 2013 – and has 448 international wickets to show for his efforts.
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